432 pages : 23 cm

The artifacts excavated from the ruins of Masada yield fascinating insights into the world of the New Testament and the times when King Herod, Pilate, Jesus, Peter, and Paul lived. This book invites you to visit Herod's palaces, walk the robber-infested road taken by the good Samaritan, and see lamps that may have been like those carried by the ten virgins and sandals that made footprints on the shores of Galilee or the deserts of Judea. Every item from Masada suggests something about the setting in which Christianity arose. These essays help us better understand the people, politics, and material culture of the world of the New Testament

Includes bibliographical references and index

Masada : Herod's fortress and the Zealots' last stand / Yigael Yadin and S. Kent Brown -- King Herod / Richard Neitzel Holzapfel -- Herod's wealth / John W. Welch -- Herod the Great's building program / Andrew Teasdale -- Alexander the Great comes to Jerusalem : the Jewish response to Hellenism / Cecilia M. Peek -- A historical sketch of Galilee / Andrew C. Skinner -- Revolutionaries in the first century / Kent P. Jackson -- Legal and social perspectives on robbers in first-century Judea / John W. Welch -- "The keys of the kingdom" : keys from Masada / Marti Lu Allen -- The virgins' lamps : shine beautiful! / Marti Lu Allen -- Loosing a shoe latchet : sandals and footwear in the first century / Shane A. Baker -- The fruit of the vine : wine at Masada and in the New Testament / Jo Ann H. Seely -- Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin : languages of New Testament Judea / Roger T. Macfarlane -- Coins in the New Testament / Nanci DeBloois -- Gammadia on early Jewish and Christian garments / John W. Welch and Claire Foley

The priestly tithe in the first century A.D. / John A. Tvedtnes -- The Masada synagogue and its relationship to Jewish worship during the Second Temple period / E. Jan Wilson -- Miqvaot : ritual immersion baths in Second Temple (Intertestamental) Jewish history / Stephen D. Ricks -- The Masada fragments, the Qumran Scrolls, and the New Testament / David Rolph Seely -- Sacred books : the canon of the Hebrew Bible at the end of the first century / Robert L. Maxwell -- The Roman province of Judea : a historical overview / John F. Hall -- The Roman army in the first century / William J. Hamblin --Casting stones : ballista, stones as weapons, and death by stoning / James V. Garrison -- And they cast lots : divination, democracy, and Josephus / Eric D. Huntsman -- Suicide at Masada and in the world of the New Testament / Daniel K. Judd -- The reliability of Josephus : can he be trusted? / Eric D. Huntsman -- History and fable, heroism and fanaticism : Nachman Ben-Yehuda's The Masada Myth / Arnold H. Green

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews